I'd earmarked the Winter Solstice to combine my first circle and first full moon esbat, and had spent some time preparing for it. I work as a solitary and so I set up my circle boundary, altar and quarters. As this was a personal milestone for me and worthy of a photo, I spent awhile taking pics of my altar and circle for my journal. Deciding what to wear for the event caused a momentary problem, I did think about going skyclad but settled for wearing a blue patterned cotton yukata (summer kimono) instead.

Before starting the esbat I performed a small blessing ceremony for my wand and athame as they had not been used before, and once the esbat commenced I was so totally absorbed in what I was doing that I lost all track of time. What I thought had only been a few minutes was closer to an hour. Although I kept it simple being my first time, there was lots of energy and power in the room that night and I felt amazing, and at Heather's yule party later that evening I was on a real high. Looking back, the one thing I forgot to do was to ground and protect in the beginning, but no harm done. Next time I shall remember.